| Abstract: | When a driver is suddenly presented with an obstacle in his path, or realizes that his speed is too great for the curved road ahead, commonly he saturates both inputs of steering and braking and thereby jeopardizes his chances of successfully avoiding a collision or negotiating the turn. Although anti-lock braking systems (ABS) avoid saturation of the braking and steerability usually remains, there is evidence to suggest that the vehicle performance with this system could be greatly improved. Could the steering, in addition to the braking, be automatically controlled to improve the performance? Because these threatening situations are so variable, it is very difficult to find a controller which can override both driver inputs and is always beneficial. Using a very simple model of the vehicle, the concept of minimizing the average radius of curvature of the path through controlling both driver inputs is shown to always be beneficial, and worthwhile. The results also carry over to a more realistic model. |
